Katharyne Mitchell

Katharyne Mitchell is an American geographer who is currently a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the Dean of the Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Mitchell grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in Art and Archaeology.

She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley under the direction of Allan Pred.

She was a visiting professor at St. Catherine's College and Hertford College at the University of Oxford in 2000–2001.

The recipient of Guggenheim Foundation and Brocher Foundation fellowships, as well as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award and Max Planck Institute senior fellowship, Mitchell's research spans several categories including migration, citizenship, transnationalism, urban political geography, philanthropy, and education.

Her current research examines the spaces of migration, faith, and sanctuary in the context of the current refugee situation in Europe.

Mitchell was previously Professor of Geography at the University of Washington, and held the inaugural position as Simpson Professor of the Public Humanities from 2004 to 2007.

Mitchell's 2004 book, Crossing the Neoliberal Line: Pacific Rim Migration and the Metropolis, is regarded as “an important contribution to urban and transnational studies.” Her 2008 edited volume, Practising Public Scholarship: Experiences and Possibilities Beyond the Academy, brings together work from scholars such as Terry Eagleton, Howard Zinn, Doreen Massey, and Michael Burawoy, and has been called “one of the best books on what it really means to be a public intellectual.”